Ripper: A Love Story by Lance Taubold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
So, there were some really good elements to this one, but also some shockingly underwhelming too ... the proverbial Curate's egg,
When boiled down, highlights of delightful writing; some really effective linguistic devices. However, it was spoilt in the overall picture by poor research. I will add the errors/bug bears in the fuller Blog post #445 (May 2014).
Such a shame really, as I was willing for it to not make me so damn angry. Yes, I do recognise that it's a work of fiction, but it does still need to have an authoritative voice grounded in some decent research/care.
There is no doubt that the author's ability is hovering in the background, and it's hoped that he can overcome it with the next book.
Product Details
This was a DSOA pick from over a year ago. It's available HERE for a Kindle download price of £2.02.
290 pages
13Thirty Books; 1 edition (17 April 2013)
Fiction, Historical, Romance, Murder
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
I don't like to just focus on negative, so thought I would share one of my favourite passages 'It was the kind of day that she adores as a child. It was the kind of day that brought memories of games once played, and now, replayed forever in her mind.' - that my friends is an exceptionally lovely.
Another highlight was a paragraph about memories on Page 149.
There were some nice alliterations, and it was a breath of fresh air to see 'whom' used correctly.
My linguistic prize of the week goes to the use of an anaphora: 'It's too scary. It's too dangerous. It's too ..." - nicely done.
Now to have a little word about the bad bits, and you need to bear in mind that this features Queen Victoria, and her Grandson, The Duke of Clarence. In general the tone centred around this piece of the plot was paper-thin. I can see where the author was coming from, as I believe the Duke of Clarence has been mentioned in Ripper stories. I suppose that in a way it was a brave angle, but for me didn't work. Royalty was, and still is to a certain extent, surrounded in such pomp and ceremony; it would be inconceivable for a Prince to meet, fall in love and marry a commoner in such a fashion. It was a leap too far.
Page 19: Grandmum - really, Grandmama.
Page 21: where Queen Victoria refers to her husband 'Philip' - just on it's own that shrieks lack of research, it's Albert.
Page 35: brown and white pain percherons - skewbald, not paint.
Page 65: a weird bit of formatting 'behind eyes--the' - what's that all about?
Page 83: I may, or may not have got the wrong end of the stick with this one, but it was implied that the ferry to Ireland left from southern England, but I would be happy to be assured this was only by mis-understanding.
Page 98: Another bit of formatting :Is that whomYour"
Page 99: go check - missing conjunction.
Page 120: 'toilet' - very impolite, it should be lavatory.
Page 120: "She hopped to the carpeting covering a section of the bedroom floor ..." - rug.
Page 123: 'fellen' - I assume that should be fallen.
Page 131: Just havin' a wee bit bit of fun ... -
Page 141: A Royal of Albert's age, just barely twenty-four, who was not yet bettered, prompted whispers of ... - that ambiguous.
Page 163 and other locations: gotten.
Page 179: come help - conjunction.
Page 182: playing cards and smoking cigars .... it was a ritual he had carried out since he had left prepatory school - what kind of monster was he? Preparatory School is from 8 to 13 in the Public School system (for the benefit of any non-British people the 'Public' school system is fee paying and 'State' is just that normal non-fee paying schooling provided by the Government for all children. I would strongly argue that children of Royalty were educated at home by a Tutor at that time. Sons' of the Aristocracy may have been educated at Eton.
Page 183: trash? - rubbish in England.
Page 187: London Times - it's just The Times.
Page 202: the maid refers to Coren as 'Miss' in many places - after her marriage she would have been Your Highness, or your Grace to a servant.
Page 202: humming birds in the garden - hello, London ... no hummingbirds.
Page 208: humming bird - in Victorian times there were found of stuffing things, but they definitely don't flit our gardens.
Page 215 - contemptuous - insulting would have been better.
Page 216: The pound and a half - although it was old money, it would more likely have been a guinea, which was 20 shillings, not sure about the timeline though as I think they stopped minting them in about 1814. In any event that would have sounded more authentic.
Page 216: sidewalk - pavement.
Page 222: I am sure the Prince had your best in mind - best interest in mind.
Page 226: I should think there would have been a cat's chance in hell of a member of the Royal Family being taken to hospital at that time.
Page 250: ... had best be getting finished dressing ourselves - messy phrasing.
Page 251: tuxedo - evening dress or dinner jacket, definitely not tuxedo.
Page 262: cucumber and butter sandwiches - ah, this made me chuckle, butter is not considered an actual ingredient, it's spread on the bread, so it is simply a cucumber sandwich.
Page 269: pants - they are under-garments, so therefore it would be trousers or breeches.
Page 277: Metropolitan Police - ok, I'll give him this one, they became that around 1829, before that it was the Runners.
Page 285: gotten - unacceptable, when the author has proved he could rise above use of that word.
Page 285: London Zoo - Zoological Society of London in Regent's Park c. 1828, prior to that I believe it was at either The Tower.
What a list?
Happy reading.
Hugs
Kay
